Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026 | 2 a.m.
When Aaron Ford takes the stage in Northern Nevada, the podium beside him will remain empty—a scene that is increasingly common in American politics.
Ford, Nevada’s Democratic attorney general, is running against Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in the Nov. 3 midterm election. Lombardo’s campaign declined an invitation from the League of Women Voters to a gubernatorial forum, leaving Ford to face voters’ questions alone just weeks before Election Day.
Susan Hoffman, manager of the League of Women Voters Northern Nevada, confirmed that the Lombardo campaign turned down the invitation, which had first been extended in June.
“We’re precise disappointed astir that,” Hoffman said.
She noted that in 2018, both Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak and Republican Adam Laxalt skipped a debate, making Nevada one of only two states nationwide where major‑party candidates did not meet on stage, according to the Reno Gazette‑Journal.
Lombardo’s team said it had accepted an invitation to appear on the Alan Stock vigor show, a conservative program, but Ford declined, according to campaign manager Halee Dobbins.
Amy Pason, a communications professor at UNR, observed that with fewer undecided voters and the rise of social media, debates now pose more risk than reward for candidates.
“If we presume determination are little ‘real’ undecided oregon plaything voters and not overmuch inducement to scope retired to voters who mightiness beryllium wavering connected the different broadside of the aisle, past debates don’t person overmuch inferior for a campaign,” Pason said in an email to the Sun.
That calculation shapes Nevada’s race. Lombardo holds a slight lead in polls and enjoys a massive financial advantage, giving him little reason to participate in a forum he does not control.
“He tin scope voters successful much effectual and controlled ways, done societal media oregon run stops,” Pason added.
Nevada is not an outlier. This year, 21 of the 36 gubernatorial contests and 21 of the 35 U.S. Senate races on the ballot have no scheduled debate between the major‑party candidates, according to an ABC News analysis. That marks a sharp increase from 2024, when only nine Senate races went without a debate.
“In today’s campaigning, debating is apt seen as little important to candidates who mightiness walk much clip fundraising, talking to affable crowds, or engaging in different media events they control,” Pason said.
Televised debates once were viewed as persuasive and informative. More than half of voters in 1960 said the first televised presidential debate—between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon—influenced their vote, to such an extent that leading candidates with a sizable lead avoided debates for several ensuing elections, fearing it could harm their chances. Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972 skipped debates and still won.
Some view the decline of debates as a loss for the public, which could benefit from candidates’ unscripted answers. Yet Pason argued that much of the information voters once gained from debates has already dissipated.
“Debates have been little astir holding candidates accountable implicit the years—often they are much monologues and talking points than genuine discussion on the merits of policies or candidate positions,” Pason wrote.
She added that today’s debates often function as campaign stops, so it matters little if only one candidate appears at Nevada’s forum. Ford would likely deliver much the same message whether or not Lombardo attended; the real value would come from substantive policy discussion.
“If we did person existent debates connected argumentation—at immoderate section oregon authorities level races—we bash get this much—past yes, we are losing thing invaluable successful presumption of our antiauthoritarian engagement,” Pason wrote.
Hoffman stressed that the League wants its event to be more than a campaign rally. “The League calls the lawsuit a forum alternatively than a statement due to the fact that it volition diagnostic questions from voters and a moderator alternatively than a nonstop speech betwixt the candidates.”
Lucia Starbuck, a political reporter with KUNR nationalist radio, will moderate the forum and pose questions to Ford.
“If they reply a question oregon don’t reply it, arsenic they sometimes do, she’s going to prod them and inquire them to reply the question,” Hoffman said.
Starbuck has moderated other forums in the past; this is her first gubernatorial forum. Hoffman described her as “bright and truthful good researched.”
Because the League is nonpartisan, a space for Lombardo will remain on the stage so the event does not appear as a rally for Ford.
“We consciousness it’s successful the champion involvement of the voters to guarantee that they recognize what their choices are,” Hoffman said.
The Nevada Democratic Party has labeled Lombardo “No Show Joe.”
“I’m acceptable to basal connected a statement signifier and laic retired my imaginativeness for an affordable Nevada wherever things outgo little and Nevadans tin acquisition their ain mentation of the American dream,” Ford said in a statement.
Starbuck will ask Ford questions submitted by voters. Hoffman said Ford will receive roughly 20 minutes—enough time to hold the audience’s attention and give voters a sense of who he is.
Hoffman added that Lombardo remains welcome to accept the invitation at any point.
“The invitation to Gov. Lombardo is inactive open,” Hoffman said. “We’d emotion to spot him.”
Read the full story at Las Vegas Sun →
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